Laweence dobbelaab



L. DOBBELAAR.

Sign.

No. 226,724. Patented A l il 20,1880.

TIiZizessas UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAWRENCE DOBBELAAR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR' OF ONE-HALF OF HIS RIGHT TO DAVID Gr. YUENGLING, JR, OF SAME PLACE.

SIGN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 226,724, dated April 20, 1 880.

' Application filed February 11, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LAWRENCE DOBBELAAR, of the city of New York, in 'the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tablets for Signs and other purposes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is useful for tablets for signs, for panels for walls, for panels and centerpieces for ceilings, and for other purposes; and it consists in a tablet composed of plasterof-paris, or other plastic composition, having cloth or other woven material applied to the back thereof, and having the letters or characters cut or extended entirely through the plastic composition, whereby I produce a sign of striking appearance in which the letters are transparent and the ground opaque, instead of the letters being opaque and the ground transparent, as is usual in wire signs.

It also consists in a sign orother tablet composed of plaster or plastic composition having combined with it cloth or other woven material having metal or other rods embedded in it, and having a hinder or frame in which the ends of the rods are secured extending along its edges.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a face view of a portioirof a tablet embodying invention. Fig. 2 represents a section through the same on the dotted line or 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a face view of a portion of a tablet in which the letters extend entirely through the plaster composition. Fig. 4 represents a section thereof, and Fig. 5 represents a section of a portion of a tablet of slightly-modified form.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The sign-tablets or other articles in which my invention is embodied consist of a thin tablet or body, A, ofplaster-of-paris, or other composition composed wholly or in part of plasterof-paris, and a'thickness of woven material or fabric, B, secured thereto or incorporated therewith.

The fabric B may be composed of wire-gauze, cloth, or nettm g, or of woven fibrous material;

and it may be either applied and secured to the back of the tablets, as here represented, or 1t may be incorporated therewith, the plaster composition being placed on each side thereof, or it may be employed in both these ways for large tablets. The cloth or fabric prevents the crumbling into small fractions of 5 5 the tablet, and adds greatly to its strength.

The letters may be out in the tablet, or they may be impressed in its surface while semiplastic before the composition sets, and thus the letters may be formedvery cheaply and quickly. The letters may be impressed partly through the tablet, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, or wholly through the plaster composition, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, and in this latter case a sign of striking appearance is produced, in which the letters are transparent and the ground opaque, instead of the letters being opaque and the ground transparent, as is usual in wire signs.

To give the tablets additional strength and prevent their warping during drying, Iembed in the plaster composition metal or other rods or sticks O, which extend through the tablet, andshould be placed so that they will not cut into the letters.

In order to protect the edges of the tablet when it is made without a frame, I surround or inclose the edges with a binder, D, made of zinc or other sheet metal, bent so as to embrace the edge, and the rods 0 may have their I ends secured to the binder by soldering.

If desirable, I may incorporate the plaster tablet with a wooden frame, and make the front face of this frame of the same composition, as shownin Fig.5,wherein is represented a woodenframe,E,over the front face of which the plaster composition has been molded, so as to form the tablet in one body with the frame. Where such a frame is employed the ends of the rods 0 will be secured in said frame or connected thereto.

Panels for walls, or panels or counter-pieces for ceilings embodying my invention may be colored or decorated to suit the taste before being put up, and may be put up and taken 5 down and removed without danger of breaking.

Although the letters or characters are here represented as sunk or depressed in the tablet, they may, if desired, be in relief.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A sign-tablet composed ot'plaster or plastic composition having cloth or other Woven material applied to the back thereof, and having the letters or characters cut or extended entirely through the plaster composition, substantially as specified.

2. A sign or other tablet composed of plaster or plastic composition having combined with it cloth or other Woven material having metal or other rods 0 embedded in it, and having a binder or frame to which the ends of IO the rods are connected extending along its edges, substantially as specified.

LAWRENCE DOBBELAAB.

Witnesses: I

FREDK. HAYNES, CHANDLER HALL. 

